Worldwide
by storyofarusher
Summary: My entry to justkeeptyping's "Jerome and Mara, JARA" contest. Jerome is deeply in love with Mara and just can't get enough of her, so he writes down what he imagines their relationship would be like. And maybe, just maybe, it could turn out to be true.


**Jerome's POV**

_I am in love with Mara Jaffray. I am in love with Mara Jaffray. I am in love with Mara Jaffray._ I told myself as I looked at a picture of us while we were fake dating. It was our kiss. Our _**only**_kiss. I picked up my notebook. Five minutes ago, I read a romance story on fanfiction(dot)net by a writer named "justkeeptyping" and inserted Mara and my name in it, so really it was just a story about us to me. It only made my feelings for Mara stronger, as I normally kept them inside of me, all bottled up.

_During that moment, everything was picture perfect. There was no problems, no imperfections._ I stared at the picture, then continued writing. _I know that Mara will never love me back, yet I flirt anyway. I blush when I have to. There isn't any point in hiding my love for her completely. Besides, I saw her face when she heard that Amber and Mick broke up. I __**saw**__ them kiss in the meadow during a lesson that Mara was teaching Mick. But I never told anyone. They told the house on their own._

I put my pencil away, after writing a not-so-manly journal entry for the night, hiding the sacred book of my thoughts under my bed. It was past 10 o'clock. Alfie was with Amber, doing who knows what. I still haven't given up my dream. My dream of being Mara's boyfriend. Just holding her. Being close to her. A few small choked sobs came out, nothing more.

Fabian walked in.

"Hey," He looked at me with a confused look. "Were-were you crying?"

I sniffled my nose. "No," I lied briefly.

"Are you sure? Your nose looks a little long." We both chuckled.

"It's-It's about this girl I like. I know she'll never like me back. I know she'll only ever look at me as just another useless prankster in the house. Wait, I change that. I love her. I couldn't love her more. The way she smiles, the way she walks, the way she does everything. It's just so perfect. I wouldn't be able to ask for more in a girl."

"Wow, it looks like you really love her."

"Yeah. You have no idea what pain I'm going through. It's like she never even knows me. And she never will."

"Nina?" He asked.

"No!"

"Amber?" He asked again.

"No!"

"Patricia?"

"_Heck_ no!" I looked at him in disgust.

"Well then, who is it?"

"I can't say,"

"Why not?" Fabian asked.

"I just _can't_." I answered briefly.

"Whatever. Anyway, it's 10:19. I gotta get back to my room before I get 'severe punishments' from Victor." Fabian said, opening the door and closing it softly.

When he left, I was all alone. Just me and my thoughts.

I buried my face into my hands with all of my emotion pouring into the warm tears that were fresh from my eyes. I stared onto my laptop, only to be greeted by a dreadful picture of Mara and Mick kissing. I shut my laptop harshly and walked over to my bed. I laid down onto the sheets, grabbed my pillow from both sides of it, and dug my face into it. It was anger and rage, instead of guilt and mourning that was pouring through me.

That night, I dreamt of Mara. Being with her, kissing her with every feeling that I had in my heart. I've heard that dreams come true when you believe in them entirely and fully with all your soul. I never fell for those tricks; they were just comments kids' shows made so that children will grow up with lies in their life.

For the next few days I held in my love, rage, and suffering at times. I never told anyone that I was in love with Mara. And yet again, she ignored me and talked with the others. It was like she was avoiding me. But I was tired of the waiting. If I wanted her, _I_ was going to have to make the first move and risk our friendship.

It was 8 days ever since I cried myself to sleep that one night. 8 days of staring, looking away, and staring again. I stuttered every time I talked to Mara, but not excessively. Every time she talked to me, it took me a couple seconds to form words. But I never told her. And I was wondering when I finally was going to.

It was _9_ days since I've cried myself to sleep. I was walking back from school. It was mostly cloudy, with the sun peeking through every couple minutes or so. I had my shoulderbag on my right side and I was just looking around, assurring myself that I was going to write another poem about her when I got inside the house.

_Could she __**really**__ not like me?_ I shuddered at the thought and continued walking. I heard a familiar voice yell at the sight of some teens in a car dancing to some really loud rock music.

"Hey! Hello? I need a ride!" She yelled. I turned around and saw the blurred face of Mara. She waved at me and motioned for me to come to her. I ran over to Mara.

"Yeah? Are you alright?" I asked while panting a little bit.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just used to getting a ride back to the house. This is all new to me. I need someone to walk with."

"I can tell. Once you're used to it, it's actually quite nice walking back all alone. You can think about anything, solve any conflicts that you're currently in."

"You walk back a lot, don't you?"

"Every day for the past year. Can't think of anything better to do that have a small talk with your own thoughts." I boasted.

Mara dropped her small book. I reached for it slightly but Mara picked it up first.

"That would've been awkward,"

"Yeah, I know."

We were staring at each other, faces only a few centimeters apart. We froze there for a second, staring into each other's eyes.

My right hand touched the hair that was just behind Mara's left ear. I gazed into those bold brown eyes.

I told myself to go for it.

I leaned in and gently touched her lips to mine. She didn't pull away as I put every emotion that I had- anger, love, fear, hate, guilt- into the beautiful moment that was unfolding right now. All my waiting, all my pain- was released in that gentle point of time minute of bliss. I pulled back so that I could talk.

"Mara, you don't know how long I've been waiting to do that." We both stretched a smile that went from cheek to cheek. Suddenly, the small sprinkles of rain turned into heavy drops of clear, _beautiful_, rain. We both looked up and laughed.

We pulled in for another kiss, and this time, it was joy and happiness that brought our lips together. There we were, in each other's arms, kissing in the rain. And I cherished it. Every second.

**A/N: Well, that was my entry for justkeeptyping's "Jerome and Mara, JARA contest"! I hope that you like it! That took me about 2 hours to write, so I am really happy with it!**


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